Simple Gestures, Simply Hope
by sagesther
Summary: Once a girl helped a boy that was lost in the world. Then they switched places. Now he wants to help her find what she's lost. Sorry for the crappy summary, Harry Potter OneShot.


Before I continue, I'd like to give extreme credit to LianFex. I was up REALLLL late last night, and I was sitting around bored because everyone was asleep. So I started re-reading a fanfic that I absolutely LOVE and I was in one of the mood swings that I go into when I really want to write. Inspiration started popping into my head along with a story! I've been really trying for a fic that _ISN'T _anime, so I'm happy! And really, REALLY tired. This took me like two and a half hours and I don't even remember falling asleep last night!

(Btw, the name of LianFex's fanfic is "The Rose Sonata". To LianFex, I apologize majorly if it looks like I copied what you wrote. I didn't.)

**Disclaimer-** I don't own Harry Potter, okay?

* * *

It was raining the first time they met. Fifth grade, and just outside his homeroom. Her flaming red hair, and easy laugh caught his attention; his wide grin and mischievous eyes caught hers. After school he left detention right when she left the school library. He saw her again, walking in the pouring rain without an umbrella. She felt a human presence near her where it wasn't before, and felt no rain hit her head. She turned around and he was holding an umbrella above her.

"I noticed you were getting kinda soaked out here." He grinned a little shyly and sheepishly. She was touched by this small gesture and felt her face go red.

"Thank you."

As they walked they talked about their individual lives. She found out to her surprise that his parents argued all the time and often totally forgot about him, even though they were usually agreeing over him. He really didn't want to go home to another night of that, so she stayed with him and talked until night fell. She had no choice but to leave then. As the two exchanged good-byes, both felt strangely felt unsatisfied as they watched the other leave.

The next day, he sat at his desk with his head on his arms, thinking about the latest argument his parents had had, and the girl he had met yesterday. He felt a cool hand on his and a rush of air and looked up in time to see red tresses fly out of the door. Next to his hand was a simple small flower and a note in graceful, neat handwriting-

"Don't give up hope."

After that, he didn't see her for the rest of the year. But he held onto the flower and note that she had given him.

* * *

That summer, he got a letter from Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His excitement almost crowded over his memory of a red-haired girl. Almost.

The next time they saw each other was at the Sorting. His shock and excitement at seeing her turned to quick disappointment when she didn't immediately recognize her. It turned into small bitterness when she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Only the brightest went there, and he knew he wasn't one of them. As she passed by on the way to Ravenclaw table, their eyes met. Her bright green eyes were darker then they had been, and held only a ghost of the girl he had met. But that ghost was enough to keep him going.

She had changed. Her parents were proud, but uneasy about her being a witch, and her sister hated her for it. She wouldn't even speak to her anymore. She wished she had never gotten that letter. The easier girl of then had been replaced with the cool focused shell of now.

She couldn't help but feel excited of about all the things she would learn, and it made her feel guilty. As she was sorted and as she walked toward the Ravenclaw table, she glanced up and her eyes met his.

His eyes still had that sharp mischievous look in them, but instead of the emptiness that had veen there, light had replaced it. She couldn't help but resent how they had changed places, and how he reminded her of when her sister didn't hate her. She ignored him. But as he was sorted into Gryffindor, her heart felt a pang of regret.

* * *

Three more years past. He became a awesome seeker that girls adored, and she became a beautiful brainiac that guys chased after. They both ignored theie individual fan groups.

He never forgot her, and kept chasing after her. He knew that something was hiding under he peppy girl mask and even though he didn't know what it had to do with him, he was hell bent on saving her. She became more focused, no longer letting family issues trouble her publically. But underneath her mask, she was still hurt but it, and now guilty from ignoring the boy she had helped so long ago. In spite of her guilt, she still ignored him; ignored any guy who wasn't in her specific group of friends actually. But a small part of her still remembered what she had been like before. And she hated it.

* * *

One day in her fourth year she was hiding as far back in the library as she could, hiding from her endless hordes of brainless fanboys. It pissed her off to no end how they all they that they were going to be her first boyfriend, her first love, maybe marry her, and how they all thought that she was 'totally in love with him'. She was hiding behind shelves of the oldest, most useless books in the farthest corner of the library behind an additional wall of stacked up books and her bag, sitting with her head on her arms and staring at a rain pounded Lake.

It was days like these that cracked her mask and made her think of how everything had gone wrong. Her parents now fully accepted her for who she was, but her sister still hated her even more now. Even worse, any friends that she had still had at home ditched her because they heard she was going to a private academy and thought she had turned snobbish on them. It hurt much more on days like these, because of the years of squashing the feelings down. The first tear was on its way down her cheek when a cold hand touched hers. She looked up startled, sight into the eyes of the boy she had been avoiding since she had started school.

He wiped the tear from her face, and said quietly with a small smile, "What was that you told me four years ago?" Then he turned around and disappeared behind the shelves.

Lily Evans wiped her eyes and looked down, seeing the small almond blossom that was lying near her hand. Almost exactly the same as the one she had given him four years ago. She looked down and smiled a real genuine smile as a small laugh escaped her. Behind the bookshelf, James Potter smiled as well before he turned and left the library.

* * *

They never mentioned it again, but things changed between them. Lily still thought of her pain, but she wasn't as empty as she had been before. Her laughs and smiles became real, instead of forced. She stopped laughing cruelly at James, but laughed because she finally knew that he had been doing it just so she would. Gradually, she became closer to his friends and even slowly to him. They still argued and fought. He still annoyed the hell out of her, and she acted indifferent to his attempts to woo her. But she couldn't help but admire him.

And whenever she thought of the simple blossom he had given her that rainy day, she couldn't help but love him.

* * *

**A/N- **Some of my friends asked me why I had picked an almond blossom when they read over this. An almond blossom is a beautiful flower that symbolizes hope, which is what this one-shot is based on if you read between the lines. I hope you liked this, so review please! I want to what you think about my more serious attempt at romance.


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